jewellery

31 Oct 2016

Adventures in Aussie Metal Clay

Success is the result of perfection, hard work, learning from failure, loyalty, and persistence. Colin Powell

I’ve posted several times previously on my exploits with the creation of metal clay jewellery. Metal clay is, as the name suggests, a clay-like medium composed of metal particles, an organic binder and water that can be worked and formed as a wet clay, further honed in a dry state (such as components assembled for composite pieces, like many of mine) and then is fired in a kiln at very high temperature to magically become a solid metal creation. There are now a significant number more clays than even when I started, from base metal clays like copper, bronze, iron, steel and brass to various precious variants of silver and now gold.

Antiqued copper contoured leaf earrings on feature earwires.
Antiqued copper contoured leaf earrings on feature earwires.

Not only are there many different metals (and many tones or colours of bronze and coppers etc) but there are many more brands on the market too – with new ones appearing regularly. If you’re feeling truly adventurous, there are even recipes to make up your own.

Each clay has its own properties and some are best suited to particular types of work. I’ve routinely used several brands for different styles of work. You need to work a little with the clay to find out its particular personality and to decide how it best fits into your designs – knowing which one is best for each piece. It’s also true to say that I’ve tried several that I couldn’t get on with, that either didn’t suit my work or were inconsistent for getting reliable results with, so were abandoned.

Fine silver daisy pendant with an inset cubic zirconium gemstone and matching earrings.
Fine silver daisy pendant with an inset cubic zirconium gemstone and matching earrings.

I recently noticed that one of my suppliers was stocking a new-to-the-UK clay range from Australia; Aussie Metal Clay. There offer a significant range of clays, but the ones being stocked here in the UK at present are a range of bronzes in their medium fire range.  The features of the clay looked very interesting and the examples of finished pieces I’d seen made with it were impressive.  So after a little research, I decided to try a couple of colours.  They make a standard clay and a super flex variant of each colour.  As I was hoping to cut some pieces with the Silhouette cutter (that has featured in previous articles as a tool in my jewellery making and design work), their recommendation was to use the super flex, which is what I’ve been working with.

As this clay range is new to the UK and people like myself are only just getting to know it, there is less information available than for other longer-established brands, so whilst I don’t normally talk specifics about materials and suppliers, I hope that posting some more details of this particular clay might help other artisans like myself whilst researching and considering it.

Working the Aussie Metal Clay:

The dry AMC super flex clay can be cut with scissors, scalpel and cutting machines.
The dry AMC super flex clay can be cut with scissors, scalpel and cutting machines.

I’ve very much enjoyed working with the clay, it has properties and features that suit my work really well and as I’ve had excellent support from the proprietor Roslyn Bailey and metal clay artist who works alongside her in developing the clay range, Kim Morris, I’m happy to endorse the product and put some information out there to help others.

The two clays I’ve worked with feel the same in use, so I won’t bother distinguishing them.  The clay is supplied as a dry powder that you mix yourself to a clay with water – this means that if you buy a 100g packet, once mixed, you get something like 130g of usable clay, justifying the slightly higher initial price than pre-mixed clay of the same initial weight.

The dry super flex clay was cut on the Silhouette for these two pieces and the tube bail was rolled (very gently) from dry, cut clay.
The dry super flex clay was cut on the Silhouette for these two pieces and the tube bail was rolled (very gently) from dry, cut clay.

The super flex variant also comes with a little sachet of a gel-type substance that you mix into the dry powder before the water.  It mixes together very easily and you quickly have a workable clay.  My own practice is to mix the clay, then knead it with a palette knife on a glazed tile to mix it thoroughly and then let it rest for a little while and fully absorb the moisture before using.

It rolls out nicely and takes texture very well, it doesn’t stick to your fingers or tools.  It has a lovely smooth silky texture which feels very fine and is a pleasure to work with.  It retains its workable moisture level better than any other base metal clay than I can think I’ve used before and I don’t often need to add any more water to it.

These Poinsettia style earrings were designed and cut with the Silhouette cutter from dry clay 2 cards thick, then tiny rolled balls separately appliqued. The dragonflies in the background had wings cut with a craft cutter.
These Poinsettia style earrings were designed and cut with the Silhouette cutter from dry clay 2 cards thick, then tiny rolled balls separately appliqued. The dragonflies in the background had wings cut with a craft cutter.

Occasionally if you’ve been fiddling a lot and maybe re-worked it several times, it starts to feel dry, but I just pop it into my storage box (I keep it in a little dish inside a larger airtight container that has a moistened pad inside, away from the clay) and paint a little smear of water over it and leave it to sink in, then re-knead it before use.

I can roll tiny smooth round balls with it and it makes a nice rolled snake too – which in the super flex variant, I haven’t needed to moisten before I curl and shape, other than for the tightest of coils.  I’ve been able to roll thin sheets with it that can then be cut with either the Silhouette cutter, scissors, scalpel and I’ve even used craft punches and decorative scissors.  It can even be rolled (if eased very gradually and with care) in its dry form.  Kim Morris gave me a super tip that really works; if the clay has been in its dry form for a while, the flex properties diminish a little, but putting it in the fridge overnight restores its flex.

Reconstituting dry clay:

I also found that it reconstitutes really well.  My own method is to pile up any scrap and failed elements and loosely break or chop them into smaller pieces and spray them with water, leaving it covered, to soak in for a while.  I then roughly mix it and cover with thick plastic film and roll it out and gather it up again repeatedly, at which time it probably still has dry lumps in, which will show as paler patches.  These get gradually smashed up as you roll, probably requiring the addition of more water – a little at a time. A couple of rolling sessions later you will have a workable clay.  If it was really dry clay, I tend to leave it overnight to fully absorb the moisture into the organic binders and then re-knead with a palette knife before use.

Many re-constituting techniques talk of grinding the clay back to powder in a coffee grinder or the like, then sieving it to get out impurities, but I’ve never had a problem with any clay using my technique; it saves on wastage, doesn’t fill the air with dust and as I don’t use much oil or lubricants with it, feel that the clay remains pretty pure – although I don’t use sanding dust as I think this will have particles from the sanding medium, but I do use anything I’ve carved or trimmed and drilling swarf.  I have workable new clay with minimal fuss.

Kiln firing specifics – overcoming firing issues:

Whilst I had good success straight away with several Aussie Metal Clay pieces, some have been less than spectacular.  I had several assorted issues and it was obvious that some pieces simply weren’t sintering fully.   Base metal clays are fired in 2 stages; firstly to burn off the organic binder particles (the water should already be fully evaporated, clay should be fired totally dry) and secondly to fuse the remaining metal particles together as a metal piece.

Sintering is the process whereby the loose metal particles just start to melt on their surface, allowing adjacent particles to bond together, forming a cohesive metal structure, but short of actually melting.  This is why metal clay shrinks during firing, firstly you remove the binder and then fuse the metal particles into a closer solid texture.

The inadequate sintering I experienced manifested itself variously as warping and slumping in thinner pieces, resulting in distortion and some cracking.  The thicker pieces simply crumbled on the surface when I started cleaning them up after firing.  Any remaining binder will prevent the metal particles from fusing to each other and if burn off is irregular across the piece, warping and cracking will occur.  Some of the thinner pieces (mainly a Silhouette-cut bezel – partly the fault of the design too) simply snapped off – no doubt still too brittle where not sintered fully.

I contacted AMC and Roslyn Bailey was very patient with me, working through a series of potential solutions and it became evident that it was the burn-out stage of the firing that was the culprit and she made some suggestions to try.  If the organic binder isn’t fully removed, it will remain in the final piece, preventing the metal particles from bonding to each other properly, so this stage is vital to get right.  I was able to put into action her suggestions – and thankfully, it worked beautifully, addressing the issues I had.  Everything came out fully sintered and with negligible distortion – and that was more down to the design of that piece than the firing schedule.

Burn out – stage one firing on kiln pillow:

I made several test pieces of different thicknesses and also repaired one of the earlier pieces and re-fired that.  It was Ros’s suggestion to fire the pieces on kiln pillow (on top of the carbon) to improve airflow around the piece during burn-out and after discussion we also decided to try reducing the temperature of stage one but increase the hold time.  The kiln plug was removed to vent the kiln during the stage one burn-out.

In this initial test firing, I used brand new activated coconut carbon to eliminate any potential issues with pre-used carbon, in a stainless steel firing pan (I gave up on flake free foil containers some time ago, I’ve had more consistent results with all clays since) in a Paragon SC2 kiln.  The clay was AMC medium fire super flex in Desert Sun.   Stage one was ramped at Spd3 (1000°F / 555°C per hour) to 400°C and held for 50 minutes.

When the kiln had cooled enough to be safe to work with,  I covered the pieces with kiln paper where there was texture and the wren pendant with holes in (see photos in the Gallery below) I tented with a folded piece of no-flake foil, something I’ve been doing successfully for some time.  I then covered everything in more carbon and the pan lid and replaced the kiln plug.   After success with the kiln blanket below pieces, I’ll possibly use this in future above pieces too, in place of the paper or tent, as their only purpose is to keep carbon out of texture or holes that can cause cracks if it wedges in crevices as the piece shrinks during firing.

Stage 2 was ramped at Spd4 (1500°F / 833°C per hour) to 780°C and held for 3 hours.  The kiln was left to cool to about 200°C and then the pieces removed.   I’ve not been quenching the AMC pieces, I let them cool on a ceramic tile. The appearance of the pieces immediately out of the kiln and then after polishing and antiquing can be seen in the Gallery below.

This is a perfect example of a failure being a positive and valuable learning exercise – often it’s the failures that we learn the most from.  Without a negative initial outcome, I wouldn’t have sought out assistance, thereby learning an improved technique, which in turn will result in better work overall long-term.

Addendum on Antarctic Moonlight MF clay:

Aussie Metal Clay medium fire superflex clay in Antarctic Moonlight. The earrings have been paired with polished Sterling silver earwires and rivets and the flowers are copper.
Aussie Metal Clay medium fire superflex clay in Antarctic Moonlight. The earrings have been paired with polished Sterling silver earwires and rivets and the flowers are copper.

I’ve since done a similar firing with one of the other medium fire clays from Aussie Metal Clay; Antarctic Moonlight, which is reputed to need a slightly lower firing temperature due to the higher tin content with it being classed as a more silver coloured bronze.  I did the same basic firing as for the Desert Sun, as outlined above, but lowered the temperature in stage 2 by 20°C to 760°C, still holding for 3 hours and this sintered perfectly. 

It is also worth noting that as Antarctic Moonlight is a white bronze, with a higher tin content, it’s significantly more brittle and pieces need to be a bit thicker to be robust enough for wear.  The AMC recommended minimum thickness for Antarctic Moonlight is 5 cards thick (approx 1.25mm).  I cut some small test pieces using the Silhouette that ended up just under 0.7mm thick, totally forgetting about the thickness recommendation and whilst they fired nicely, I was able to just snap them in my fingers, even though they were solid metal right through the breaks that polished to a shine later. 

The thicker pieces in the batch came out really nicely and feel very robust indeed.  So bear this in mind, the Antarctic Moonlight won’t be suitable for bezels or prongs that might need moving later to set stones etc. and I doubt it would manipulate successfully if you wanted to straighten any warping or movement during firing.

Aussie Metal Clay kiln test gallery:

Photographs to illustrate the kiln schedule and technique described above, using Aussie Metal Clay’s medium fire super flex clay.  There are more details in the captions of the photographs.

Recent work gallery:

I’ve finished several new pieces recently, including a couple of new twig necklaces (well, a necklace and a pendant) featuring tiny hand sculpted naturalistic details.

 

26 Sep 2016

The unmistakable signs of late summer

Fruits ripen, seeds drip, the hours of day and night are balanced.   Mabon Sabbat and Lore

This is a time of year that I both love and find a little sad too.  That point where the unmistakable signs appear that summer is drawing to a close and autumn is chasing its heels.  It’s sad because you know the long evenings are rapidly vanishing and there will now be more night than day and yet it’s still a beautiful time of year.

Each period of the year has its own merits and I do so love to observe that cyclical rhythm of nature doing its thing.  As summer wanes, plants put forth their seeds and berries and animals and insects use the opportunity to feed up for the forthcoming winter.  Consequently, the hedgerows are full of those fabulous later summer structures full of summer energy ready to fuel a new generation. This colourful display is full of warmth and vibrancy and stunning natural structures, just as beautiful as the flowers that precede them.

Gallery:

Recent work in a new material:

I recently discovered a new brand of base metal clays from Australia – the appropriately named Aussie Metal Clay, only recently put on the market in the UK, which I have thoroughly enjoyed working with.  I intend to do a more detailed blog on working with the product, as there is little information out there yet, but I have one or two issues to resolve for myself first.

When I look at new materials or techniques, I often do a lot of research and reading to formulate a good idea of the features of the product to see if it will be suitable for my needs – this is very often blog articles from fellow users who kindly share their experiences.  Consequently, as this product doesn’t feature very much yet, I want to write some more about it and my own findings from making several pieces with it, to make my own contribution for fellow artisans.

In the meantime, in the gallery below are a few of the new pieces I have made with a couple of the medium fire base metal clays from Aussie Metal Clay to give you an idea of its capability, but I intend to write much more specifics in a future post.  [Article now written and the links above take you to it.]

Metal clay gallery:

 

19 Feb 2016

Revisiting my jewellery gift wrap

The excellence of a gift lies in its appropriateness rather than in its value.

Charles Dudley Warner

One aspect of my business that I’ve perhaps given more careful thought to than anything else, is how I gift wrap and package my jewellery for orders being sent out – it’s a thorny issue and there are several factors to address.

By definition, it has to be a compromise between several considerations, from being tempting and attractive to look at, protective of the contents, cost proportional to the piece being wrapped (more on what that means momentarily) and not wasteful or overly extravagant to suit the sensibilities of the environmentally aware.  To that end, I am happy that my gift wrap is either recyclable or can be used for something else.

which have an overlap opening and are fully lined with a contrasting fabric.
My fabric keepsake pouches, which have an overlap opening and are fully lined with a contrasting fabric.

In respect of the costs of the gift wrap, I don’t just consider the cost of the wrapping materials themselves, but the knock-on implications that their proportions or weight might have on the outer postal packaging and the resultant postage costs.   Here in the UK at present, our domestic postage is priced by both size and weight and the difference between something that is posted at 19mm deep and another parcel at 27mm deep is going to be £2.35 more in postage alone.  It will also likely need a more expensive outer box and more packing material and tape to finish the parcel.  So I feel that it’s important to keep gift wrapping both flat and light to keep prices as keen as possible.  I have always included gift wrap and domestic P&P in my prices and have written previously about my rationale for this.

Faux metallic leather and textured faux leather jewellery presentation pouches.
Faux metallic leather and textured faux leather jewellery presentation pouches.

So in deference to keeping my prices as low as I can for my customers, I have always worked towards fitting my orders into a slender ‘large envelope’ box to minimise postage costs.  It has the added benefit that for many customers, it is also small enough to go through most letterboxes, so they’re not inconvenienced by a potential delay whilst they go and collect it from the sorting office, if it can’t be delivered because they’re out at work.  And I like the idea of the protection of a box being on the outside.

Another important consideration, especially pertinent to my own business, is to present jewellery in a manner that will allow the recipient to open and examine the piece and return it to its packaging without any detriment to its appearance.

A little shaping cut into the pouch makes it a little more interesting than a square envelope.
A little shaping cut into the pouch makes it a little more interesting than a square envelope.

When pieces are being given as a gift, they are usually sent to the purchaser who will give the gift and understandably, they will want to have a peek at what they’ve bought before giving – I would certainly want to.  But I don’t want them to feel reluctant to examine it because it features an extravagant bow they’d be nervous to remove and have to re-tie, or some other aspect they might find tricky.  Just because I enjoy fiddling with gift wrap, doesn’t mean that others find it the same pleasure.  As many of my customers are gentlemen, I like to keep the order as straightforward as possible and know that this aspect is appreciated.

Textured faux leather jewellery pouch. The fabric has a soft knit backing, providing a further protective layer for the jewellery.
Textured faux leather jewellery pouch. The fabric has a soft knit backing, providing a further protective layer for the jewellery.

So it has been my practice for some time to use two types of gift wrap, a paper envelope or a fabric keepsake pouch – both of which I make myself.  I tie both of these up with a simple knot in ribbon, which minimises the bulk of the wrapping, but as a single loop around the parcel, allows the ribbon to be slipped off sideways, the gift to be examined and the ribbon loop returned.  As a generalisation, I use the paper envelopes for small and /or less expensive items and the fabric pouches, because they take much longer to make, for more substantial pieces.  I have used the same basic methods for my packaging for some time and am completely happy with how it performs in practice, with items travelling the globe safely for me and I’ve always had good feedback from customers.

Black faux leather jewellery pouch with red double satin ribbon.
Black faux leather jewellery pouch with red double satin ribbon.

Recently, I’ve had several orders, where a fabric pouch was the better solution, due to the shape of the piece or some other factor, but it wasn’t really justified by the price.  So this set me to re-examine my current arrangements.  Ideally, I wanted a soft packaging solution, but not one that took longer to make than the jewellery itself or cost more in materials.  I could of course have just used some commercially made suedette gift bags, but where’s the fun in that!  I’ve always prided myself on extending the hand crafted ethos to my gift wrap as well as the pieces, so I needed to design something to fit the bill.

To minimise the manufacturing time, I needed to eliminate the amount of sewing and processes, it needed to be simple in construction and easily repeatable.   My keepsake pouches are made in several stages, including cutting, several pressing stages, stitching and overlocking.  The first thing I wanted to cut out, was the tiresome task of neatening the fabric edges, so something that didn’t fray would be ideal, so I turned my attention to faux suede or leather.

All jewellery has a label attached and is wrapped in 2 layers of tissue inside the pouch.
All jewellery has a label attached and is wrapped in 2 layers of tissue inside the pouch.

I knew that I had a couple of faux leather cushion covers I’d picked up from a clearance bin for use for trimming, so set about to work some prototypes.  I was also keen not to make something the same as anyone else, (although there’s little that’s truly original) so spent some time with on-line image searches, eliminating some of my ideas as they were already in use.

As is often the case, you start with one design idea and as you work it, you fine tune the details.  Some things don’t work as you expected and often you realise that you’ve over-complicated it as you gradually eliminate stages and pare down the workflow.  By the time I’d worked a few examples, I was happy that I had a design that would tick all the appropriate boxes, in that it was inexpensive, quick to produce, hopefully attractive and with the softness and flexibility I wanted to allow the ribbon to be slipped off and back on again for inspection and to accommodate different thickness of jewellery.

Jewellery pieces are wrapped in 2 layers of matching tissue paper inside each pouch.
Jewellery pieces are wrapped in 2 layers of matching tissue paper inside each pouch.

Each pouch only takes two lines of stitching and most of the effort is spent in cutting them accurately.  As can be seen to the right, I decided that some shaping of the envelope gave a more pleasing result.

A visit to a local fabric wholesaler who did a good range of faux leathers and I now had 4 further colours, to allow me a good variety of finishes.  I’m very happy to add these additional pouches to my gift wrap options and feel that I’ve addressed a slight gap in my existing arrangements.

In the process of designing these, I also settled on two further slightly more sophisticated designs to allow for slightly bulkier pieces and will produce a few more of these shortly.  I’ve just started sending them out and hope that my customers will like them.

 

2 Dec 2015

Christmas 2015 Swarovski giveaway

The main reason Santa is so jolly is because he knows where all the bad girls live.

George Carlin.

For a change, I was on the case in addressing what I was going to wear this Christmas, largely because my catalogue sent me a good discount voucher, so I was able to get the items I’d already turned the page corner over for.  I’m almost always a last minute panic sort of girl, so this makes a refreshing change.  It’s actually the only Christmas matter that I’ve dealt with, so I don’t have grounds for getting even the slightest bit smug.  Although I have now ordered the turkey, so that’s the important stuff dealt with.

The reason for telling you this is that the purchase of festive garments necessitated appropriate accessories – obviously.   I normally make myself something quick and inexpensive with beads to match the outfit and one of my tops has a lower neckline than I’m usually seen sporting, so I thought I could stand something rather more bold.    Having got many ‘Black Friday’ emails from suppliers about the bargains to be had, I set off to see what goodies I could snag to make my festive shinies.

My own Christmas bling with mahoosive Swarovski Elements crystals in a gorgeous colour called Silvernight.
My own Christmas bling with mahoosive Swarovski Elements crystals in a gorgeous colour called Silvernight.

This led to the purchase of several rather large Swarovski crystals and a commercially made setting to take two, which will be just the ticket for some festive sparkle.  Looking at Swarovski items, I had several ideas for Christmas presents, allowing me to tick a few more things off my rather poorly progressing list and that set me to wondering about thank you gifts for my customers too.

So I added some more items to my baskets and have decided to make and give away some little items of Swarovski sparkle with all orders over £18 in December – I was going to set it at £20, but as I sell a lot of items at £18 and £19, it felt more appropriate to drop it accordingly.

Nothing beats the sparkle given off by the clear facets of Swarovski crystals.
Nothing beats the sparkle given off by the clear facets of Swarovski crystals.

I have some single crystal stud earrings with Swarovski Element crystals and surgical steel posts and some little heart crystal pendants that I’ll give sway with orders over £35.

There’s nothing beats the twinkle you get from Swarovski crystals; the pristine cuts and the clarity of the facets really do catch the light – and makes it almost impossible to do them justice in photographs.  Having been working with them over the weekend, they sparkle profusely as you move around them.  And a bit of sparkle seems perfect for the festive party season.

Please see the Christmas 2015 page on my web site for more details of the Swarovski giveaway and details of Christmas ordering deadlines and options for buying and giving gifts.

I hope that everyone will have a fantastic festive season and I wish you all the very, very best for 2016.  Thank you to all of my totally lovely customers in 2015, your support is much appreciated and it has truly been a pleasure.